JULY 2018

KINGMAN, ARIZONA ADDED TO ADI CIRCUS BAN LIST

Animal Defenders International has added Kingman, Arizona, to its list of “Local Bans and Restrictions on Performing Animals in the U.S.” As of October, 2017, there are 81 partial or full bans on circus animals in jurisdictions in the U.S., in 29 states. According to ADI, partial bans or restrictions apply to specific species, uses of animals, tools and weapons or possession. At the last count, ADI estimated (conservatively) around 300 exotic/wild animals with U.S. circuses. There are currently around 18 non-animal circuses (human only performances).

Kingman, Arizona, is the first city in Arizona to be added to ADI’s list after signing Resolution No. 5108, “An Resolution by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Kingman, Arizona, Condemning the Use of Wild and Exotic Animals in Traveling Circuses.”

In March of 2018, Kingman hosted an animal-free circus called Cirque Legacy at the Mohave County Fairgrounds. And the traditional Jordan World Shrine Circus that has been coming to Kingman for decades, is not invited for 2018.

Congratulations to the City of Kingman for taking action against the animal abuse inherent in traveling circuses. It’s time for all circuses to retire their animals to sanctuaries and bring circuses with only human performers to entertain our children.

FAREWELL TO ANNA LOUISE – THE DANCING ELEPHANT

Over 195,000 signatures (one hundred and ninety-five thousand!) were gathered in a Change.org initiative to demand that Anna Louise, a circus elephant, be taken to a sanctuary to live out the rest of her life in the company of other elephants. Anna Louise was noticeably failing with health issues but continued to be used for rides and forced to do tricks. The petition was unfortunately ignored by Anna Louise’s owner and the USDA. CompassionWorks International, the creator of the petition, announced on July 24, 2018 that Anna Louise died suddenly at a roadside zoo called Two Tails Ranch (owned by a circus family) in Florida where elephants are forced to give rides.

Deemed “one of the loneliest elephants in the U.S.,” Anna Louise never had a single elephant companion with which to socialize—a crucial psychological need for elephants. Like most circus elephants still alive today, Anna Louise was captured and taken from her mother in Africa in 1988. Like all circus elephants, she was tortured and beaten into submission to learn tricks including carrying a tambourine with her trunk and “dance.” During her life of captivity, she performed for Shrine circuses, Garden Bros. Circus and many others.

African elephants can live into their 70’s, but due to her stressful life, Anna Louise only lived to the age of 35. The cause of her death was reported to be from an aneurism, but the truth will probably never be known.

Today circus elephants spend most of their lives in cages and shackles and are usually forced to eat, sleep and defecate in the same space. In the 3 years that we have been advocating against the use of wild and exotic animals in circuses, we have personally witnessed the substandard care received by circus animals. We have seen the dilapidated trucks with no air conditioning, the dark and dank interior of the trucks in which the animals spend their lives traveling from city to city, state to state, for up to 8 months of every year. We have witnessed the elephants, most of whom are approaching 50 years old, walk with pain from arthritis and have witnessed elephants so mentally ill that they can barely perform their tricks and have to “stand alone” in the ring while the other elephant performs a particularly difficult trick. We have witnessed the horses that do not receive proper care of their hooves and are forced to give rides while lame. We have witnessed the trainers jab the elephants in the mouth and all over their sensitive skin with a bull hook before, during and after performances.

All circus animals deserve to live out the remainder of their lives in a sanctuary rather than die from neglect and abuse like Anna Louise. We need to realize as a society that circuses using animals are an archaic and barbaric form of entertainment that needs to come to an end. We need animal-free circuses. PLEASE BOYCOTT THE CIRCUS!!

APRIL 2018

Arizonans for Wildlife Campaign Suspended

Unfortunately, for Arizona residents who had hoped to stop the indiscriminate and inhumane killing of bobcats and mountain lions and to protect the other wild cats of Arizona (jaguar, lynx and ocelot), the campaign financed by the Humane Society of the United States was suspended with less than three months left to gather signatures. Kitty Block, Acting President of the HSUS, said that efforts to gather the minimum 150,642 valid signatures by July 5th had been impacted by some new Arizona laws governing the circulation of initiative petitions and requiring “strict compliance” with every technical aspect of state election laws. Those laws, she said, made signature gathering more difficult. Ms. Block also said there are also “national issues that currently demand our attention.” Our fellow volunteers were saddened at this decision, as we were making much progress and had received tremendous support from thousands of Arizonans who eagerly signed our petitions.

MARCH 2018

Animal-Free Circus

On March 30th, Kingman, Arizona, hosted a 4-day animal-free circus! A heartfelt “THANK YOU” to Kingman from all those who made this happen and from all wild animal lovers and animal welfare advocates in the country. The circus “Cirque Legacy” featured amazing acrobatics, flying trapeze artists and skits by clowns that were enjoyed by the children. Audience participation and enthusiasm was exceptional at this modern contemporary circus. According to the Kingman Daily Miner, “Cirque Legacy reaches out to all generations through its deep tradition of family circuses and is especially aimed at the younger generation. Daniel Perez, co-creator and Artistic Director, was born in Cuba and graduated from the National Circus School in Havana in 1988. He’s a specialist in Russian acrobatics on the pole and swings. Frank Diaz, co-creator and Artistic Coordinator, was also born in Cuba and has performed as an acrobat, hand balance and trapeze artist since 1994.” He and his son, Derek, 13 years old, performed daring balancing acts that stunned the audience. The City of Kingman adopted a Resolution in October 2017 that stated the city “determined that the abuse inherent in the use of wild and exotic animals in traveling shows and circuses is detrimental to the animals themselves and to the viewing citizens of our community.” The Resolution also “determined that circus animals used in circuses are often mistreated by the use of bull hooks and whips when learning to perform tricks, are deprived of food and water to control bodily emissions during performances, are shackled with tire chains making normal movements impossible, are transported over long distances in uncomfortable trucks, and are deprived of normal socialization with other animals.” The Kingman City Council resolved “to affirm as matters of principle the values of the ethical and humane treatment of all animals; and to establish by example and leadership the city’s commitment to these principles.” Passed and Adopted October 17, 2017

FEBRUARY 2018

WRATH Rally in Las Vegas

Worldwide Rally Against Trophy Hunting (WRATH)

On February 3, 2018, the Worldwide Rally Against Trophy Hunting held an
Impressive 32-city showing across 16 states. In addition six countries participated in WRATH’s third annual event.

The main protest took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Safari Club International’s annual trophy hunting meeting where hundreds of animals from around the world are auctioned off to be killed for trophies.

Protests were also held at The White House, The Capitol, The Supreme Court, and New York City’s Union Station. Other countries holding protests were Adelaide and Brisbane, Australia; Birmingham, England; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ottawa; Canada; Zimbabwe, Africa; and Ireland.

WRATH (formerly The Worldwide Rally for Cecil) is sponsored by CompassionWorks International. Visit www.cwint.org if you would like to be a part of the effort to stop trophy hunting.

JANUARY 2018

Initiative to Protect Arizona’s Wild Cats

Please join Arizonans for Wildlife in their campaign to collect enough signatures to place a measure on the 2018 ballot in November to protect mountain lions, bobcats, jaguars, ocelots and lynx from extreme cruelty by prohibiting trophy hunting and trapping. LET’S ALLOW THE CITIZENS OF ARIZONA TO VOTE ON THIS MEASURE in November.

Every year thousands of mountain lions and bobcats are killed in Arizona by some of the cruelest methods imaginable. Bobcats are trapped and left to languish in excruciating pain for hours using painful and indiscriminate steel-jawed, leghold traps. If a trophy hunter or trapper kills a mother wild cat, her dependent kittens will die from dehydration, starvation, predation or exposure.

Mountain lions and bobcats are chased down with packs of trailing hounds then shot at point blank range. Jaguars, ocelots, and lynx can fall victim to these cruel methods as well. By allowing this to continue, we are further jeopardizing their survival in Arizona.

NEWS IN 2017

In addition to forming our company, Trees for Tigers Corporation, we have been active for two years in helping alleviate the suffering of animals in trophy hunting and circuses. We started by attending the “Worldwide Rally for Cecil” in 2016 in Las Vegas which was organized by CompassionWorks Intl. (www.cwint.org). We again attended the rally in 2017 and plan to attend again in February 2018.

The Jordan World Shrine Circus comes to our area every year (Kingman, Bullhead City and Lake Havasu City), and we have organized protests in Kingman and Lake Havasu City for two years. As you probably know, the trainers in the circuses and in other wild and exotic animal shows torture their animals to teach them to do tricks and force them to travel in small cages, boxcars and trucks for most of their lives, traveling day after day, week after week, month after month for up to 10 months per year. Many circus elephants are approaching 50 years old, having performed in the circus since they were 3 years of age.

CIRCUS PROTEST LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ

On Nov. 9th, we organized a protest of the Jordan World Shrine Circus in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Jordan Productions has produced the circus here every year for over 20 years. They have numerous violations of abuse and neglect of their circus animals and lost their UDSA exhibitors license many years ago. Since then they have rented animals from other circus organizations who also have many USDA citations. This treatment of these magnificent creatures is unconscionable, and we look forward to the

day all circuses using animals are gone.

This particular protest was a success, insofar as, the article published in the city paper was picked up by the Associated Press and sent to cities around the country: Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Yuma, U.S. News & World Report, San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Times.

CIRCUS PROTEST KINGMAN, AZ

On Nov. 7th we protested the Jordan World Shrine Circus in Kingman, AZ., and were accompanied by the directors and staff of Keepers of the Wild Nature Park in Valentine, AZ. (www.keepersofthewild.org) as well as the director of CompassionWorksIntl (www.cwint.org).

KINGMAN CITY COUNCIL VOTES “NO” TO CIRCUS BAN

On October 17, 2017, the Kingman City Council voted down the ordinance they had previously voted unanimously to draft. All who had worked so hard to make Kingman the first city in Arizona to enact an ordinance to ban the circus were devastated. “Welcome to politics” is what the city attorney later stated. In lieu of an ordinance, the city did sign a resolution in which they formally resolved that “circus animals used in circuses are often mistreated by use of bullhooks and whips when learning to perform tricks, are deprived of food and water to control bodily emissions during performances, and shackled with tire chains making normal movements impossible, are transported over long distances in uncomfortable trucks, and are deprived of normal socialization with other animals.”

We are continuing to try and educate the public about abuse of animals in the circus, and, hopefully, change the minds of the community.